Igniting of the charges in internal-combustion engines.



R. E. PHILLIPS.

IGNITING OF THE CHARGES IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLIGATION FILED DEO.17, 1910.

1,098,059. I Patented Now '7, 1911.

INVENTOR.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT EDWARD PHILLIPS, OF GERRARDS CROSS, ENGLAND.

IGNITING OF THE CHARGES IN INTERNALCOMBUSTION ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. '7, 1911.

Application filed December 17, 1910. Serial No. 597,936.

.To all when it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT EDWARD PHILLIPS, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at The Dower House, Gerrards Cross, in the county of Bucks, England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in and Relating to the Igniting of the Charges in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a full and complete specification.

This invention relates to the igniting of the charges in internal combustion engines and has ;for its object igniting or firing the charge in a plurality of planes with a single ignition device.

It is now the common practice to ignite or fire the charge at one point in the working cylinder, though it is generally recognized that more spontaneous combustion follows if the charge is ignited or fired at more than one point. Igniting or firing the charge at two points by the use of two electric sparking plugs has already been tried and, notwithstanding the su erior results thereby obtained, this principle has not secured adoption in any Way commensurate with its advantages owing to the complication and expense that such dual point ignition entails.

According to the present invention a chamber (hereinafter called the firing chamber) is formed in the Working cylinder in juxtaposition to the combustion space of the working cylinder-preferably at the top thereofand said chamber is in communica tion with said space of the cylinder by means of a number of ports, passages or the like, the orifices of which in said space are suitably distributed so as to produce firing points extending over as large an area of the combustion space as possible. The ignition deviceis located or introduced into the firing chamber in such a manner that it lies in a central or approximately central position with respect to the orifices 8f the ports or passages in the working cylinder.

In the accompanying drawing which illustratesby way of examplesome methods of carrying this invention into ractice and in which Figures land 2 are bro en views in sectional elevation and plan respectively showing one form the invention may assume .as applied to an engine fitted with puppet valves; Fig. 3 is a broken view in sectional elevation showin the invention as applied to an engine having concentrically arranged the working cylinder is compressed in the firing chamber 1) and on being ignited issues in the form of flames into the combustion space a of the working cylinder through the communicating ports or passages c 0, etc., and thus ignites the char e in said cylinder simultaneously at a plura ity of points. --To obtain the best results the orifices of the ports or passages (2 0, etc., in the combustion space of the working cylinder should be widely distributed over the area of the said space, and the distances of said orifices from the ignition device is should be equal or at all events approximately so. It is also advantageous to keep the sizes of said ports or passages alike.

The firing chamber is formed independent of the usual admission and exhaust passages, and is made of a prearranged small size, this being essential to the satisfactory performance of its work.

In engines fitted with this invention the normal time of firing will be slightly retarded by reason of the slight lag that will occur between the time the. charge in the firing chamber is ignited and the time the charge in the working cylinder is ignited by the flames produced by the inflammation of the charge in the firing chamber, but this lag can be corrected and compensated for by permanently advancing the time of firing and any variation of this lag due to variation in the speed of the engine can be compensated for in the usual way by means of the advance and retard mechanism of the ignition system. L

It will be obvious that any of the known s stems of ignition employed to fire the c arge in the cylinders of internal combustion engines can be employed to ignite the charge in the firing chamber employed in my system. a

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination, .with a cylinder, a pis-- ton, and a combustion chamber in the head of the cylinder, of a centrally arranged firing chamber integral with the cylinder head, a sparking device located in the said firing chamber, inlet and exhaust ports opening directinto the combustion chamber, a plurality of axially arranged ports putting the firing chamber into communication With the combustion chamber, the orifices of said ports Within the combustion chamber being 10 I equi-distantfrom the terminals of the operl ative part of the sparking device.

1 In testimony whereof I have signed my f name in the presence of two Witnesses.

i ROBERT EDWARD PHILLIPS. E Witnesses: G. V. SYMEs, g L. LAVoNE. 

